Of Glitz and Glory
by Bando26
Summary: Mario is terrified when he learns that he will have to fight the unbeatable Rawk Hawk in the Glitz Pit. Princess Peach and Luigi aren't providing very much moral support, and Mario is terrified of the upcoming battle. COMPLETED in a very timely manner.
1. Blimp Ride

Princess Peach called Mario and Luigi early one morning.

Mario picked up the phone. "Mario Bros., Mario Mario speaking."

"Oh, Mario!" Peach said cheerily, "Hi!"

"Hi Peach!" Mario said. "What is it?"

"I got three tickets to the Glitz Pit!"

"Oooooooooh," Mario said, "I've never been there. What's the Glitz Pit?"

"I don't have time to explain right now," Peach said, "but hurry, get Luigi and meet me at the Mushroom Kingdom Airport!"

"When should we meet you there?" Mario asked.

"Right now!" Peach said, enthusiastically. "You have to hurry, Mario! Get Luigi, come on! I'm already here! Come on!"

"Okeydokey," Mario said.

There was a lot of traffic on the Mushroom Bridge, so it took Mario and Luigi much longer to get to the airport than they had planned.

"We're here!" Mario hollered happily to Peach as he and Luigi met her out by the airplanes. It was a nice day. The sun was shining down strongly.

"Oh, I can't wait to see the fights at the Glitz Pit!" Peach said. "They're supposed to be very exciting!"

Mario glanced down at his watch. "Mamma-mia! Look at the time! It's almost 11:30! We're going to miss the flight!"

"Oh no!" Luigi cried.

Peach looked around. "Oh, look! There's our blimp!" She pointed across the airport to the blimp with the giant Cheep Cheep-shaped balloon on top. "Let's go!"

The three ran over to the blimp, gave the ticketer their tickets, and entered the blimp. The seats inside looked cushy, and they all sat down.

Peach pulled out the flyer for the Glitz Pit. "Intense battles held in the glamorous Glitz Pit, held miles high on the floating city Glitzville! Affordable hotel accommodations, and free balloons!"

Luigi smiled at the thought of free balloons as the blimp lifted into the air.

"So it's like boxing matches?" Mario asked.

"Yeah, kinda. Oooh, listen! World-famous Rawk Hawk has brutally defeated all competitors," Peach continued aloud. "Oh, guess what!"

"What?" Mario and Luigi asked.

"The Rawk has fought for over fifteen years, undefeated!" Peach turned around the flyer to show a picture of Rawk Hawk to Mario and Luigi.

"Whoa, look at the size of those muscles!" Mario blurted.

Luigi smiled over at Mario. "I bet you couldn't last five seconds in the ring with Rawk Hawk!"

Mario was offended. "Yes I could. I could last _double_ that!"

"Oh," Peach turned to Mario, "that would be so cool if you fought Rawk Hawk!"

Mario bit his lip. He was immediately regretting what he had just said. "It sounds scary. Nobody's lost to him in fifteen years!"

"And he has fought every day!" Peach read off of the flyer.

"That's like five thousand, four hundred seventy-eight victories!" Luigi counted on his fingers.

"Yeah," Peach said, "but he fights more than one time a day,"

"Oh," Luigi said, "so that means he could have won well over ten thousand matcheswithout losing any!"

"Oh, Mario!" Peach giggled, "You could be the first to beat Rawk Hawk!"

Mario stared at the picture of the yellow bird on the flyer. The talons in particular looked really scary. "Oh, I dunno..."

Suddenly, they all felt the blimp touch down on the ground.

"Oh, we must be here!" Luigi said happily. He smiled to Mario. Mario smiled nervously.


	2. Confrontation

Mario, Luigi, and Peach stepped out of the blimp.

The sun shined brightly overhead. Glitzville floated high above the clouds, so it was always sunny. A large propeller under the floating city held it up. The fact that Glitzville floated was nothing more than an expensive gimmick to make the visit more fun. The blimp was in the small plaza in the middle of the floating isle. The Glitz Pit arena was by far the largest building in Glitzville, and with its flashing lights and colorful banners, it truly was a sight. To the right was a small restaurant and a small hotelthey would be staying in the hotel overnight, and would leave again at noon the next day. To the left was a souvenir shop and a hot dog vendor. Other than a few plants and a telephone booth, there really wasn't anything else here.

"Ooooh, free balloons!" Luigi ran over to the cheerful woman handing out free balloons.

Peach and Mario still stood right outside of the blimp.

"Wow," Peach said, this place is marvelously colorful! She and Mario looked around. Huge posters of Rawk Hawk were plastered all over. Mario suddenly got butterflies in his stomach. He still wasn't sure that he wanted to battle Rawk Hawk.

Luigi returned with a handful of colorful balloons. "The balloon lady said we can sign Mario up inside the Glitz Pit."

"Splendid!" Peach said. "Let's go!" She grabbed Mario's wrist, and pulled him along. When they reached the entrance to the Glitz Pit, the glass doors automatically slid open for them. "Wow! What interesting doors!"

They had difficulty walking though the fancy lobby because there was a huge crowd in the way.

"I wonder what this crowd is here for," Luigi said.

"I don't know," Peach said. "I can't see."

"Mario," Luigi said, "let me climb up on your shoulders and see what everybody's looking at."

"Okay," Mario said. He was very nervous about being signed up.

Luigi climbed up onto Mario's shoulders. "Oh, it's Rawk Hawk! He's signing autographs!"

"Nobody ever asks _me_ for an autograph..." Mario moaned.

"Well, that's because you haven't beaten up thousands of people," Peach said reassuringly.

Rawk Hawk broke through the crowd and came face-to-face with Mario.

"Do you want my autograph too, little mustache man?"

"I hate you!" Mario shouted.

"Oh? You _hate _me? Do you want to take this outside?" Rawk Hawk suddenly seemed very big to Mario. Especially the humongous muscles.

"No," Mario said weakly, backing up.

Rawk Hawk nodded. "I see." He walked out of the interesting automatic doors, and the crowd of fans followed him.

"Come on, Mario, let's go sign you up!" Peach began running to the door in the back of the lobby with a sign above it labeled "Registration".

"Mario," Luigi said, "come on! Let's follow Peach!"

Mario groaned as Luigi pulled him, following Peach.


	3. Mario's Life Gets Signed Away

Grubba was a money-grubbing blue thing and Jolene was his super-efficient assistant.

Grubba asked Mario, "Why do you want to be a fighter?"

"I don't want t" Mario started, but stopped when Luigi stomped on his foot.

"He wants to fry the competition in his dust," Luigi finished for him.

"He wants to whip the competition into a creamy, frothy substance," Peach said.

Mario whispered into Peach's ear, "I'm not having fun anymore. Let's go home."

"What did he say?" Grubba asked.

"Oh, um..." Peach stammered, "he said, 'I'm a champion fighter!' "

"No I didn't!" Mario shouted.

"Yes you did!" Peach said, stomping on Mario's foot (with her high heelthat _really _hurts).

Grubba couldn't see the foot-stomping. "Oh, you're a champion fighter? Well, I'll just move you right into tomorrow's match! Jolene?"

Jolene picked up her clipboard. "You'll be competing with Rawk Hawk tomorrow morning at 9 AM."

"There'll be thousands of spectators!" Grubba exclaimed. "We wish you luck."

Mario sighed.

After the meeting with Grubba, the three stood in line at the hot dog stand. Peach came up with an idea. "Hey, Mario," she said, "Wouldn't it be a good idea if you watched a few battles so that you would know what you were going to be going up against?"

Mario shrugged.

"Oh yes," Luigi said, "we should let Mario watch how Rawk Hawk beat his competitors. He'll get learning experience."

Mario turned toward Peach, and whispered into her ear, "I don't want to."

"Oh, come on, silly," Peach reassured him. It was their turn to buy a hot dog. Peach paid for three hot dogs, and handed one to Mario and one to Luigi. "It won't be hard, I guess."

Then they entered the Glitz Pit and took their seats in the fifth row. They were pretty neat seats. The air was filled with excitement. After a short wait, Grubba walked onto the stage and stepped into the center platform. "Ladies and germs, welcome to the GLITZ PIT!"

The crowd went wild. Peach screamed happily, and Luigi jumped up and down. His colorful bunch of balloons bobbed up and down above him with the tugging of the strings.

"In today's EXCITING match, we have our challenger, the GOLDEN GOOMBA," a shiny Goomba walked hesitantly onto the stage, gazing up at the spectators. "versus the RAWK...HAWK!" The crowd went ballistic. They screamed, they hollered. Rawk Hawk entered, shouting back enthusiastically to the audience. They shouted back. Soon, everyone was shouting "Rawk Hawk! Rawk Hawk!" Everyone but Mario.

"Are our combatants ready?" Grubba asked. They both nodded. "Okay, let's BRAAAAAAAAAAAWL!" The crowd was wild.

Rawk Hawk started by picking up Golden Goomba. It squirmed frantically in his hands. Rawk Hawk threw it high into the air, then flew up into the air right above it, and dove straight down, smashing the Golden Goomba into the platform below. The Goomba did not move.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, Mario dropped his hot dog.

"That's the match!" Grubba yelled into his microphone. "And a rather quick one, too!" Grubba walked over to Rawk Hawk. "That was fast. Did you have a strategy going into this one?"

"A fighter like me doesn't _need_ a strategy," he replied.

Mario found that he was biting his fingernails.


	4. Creepy Letters From X

Later that day, when the day's scheduled matches were over, Mario, Luigi, and Peach exited the Glitz Pit. It was nighttime. "Wow," Peach said, "weren't those matches exciting?"

Luigi seemed disappointed. "Nobody' s bones got crushed. Mario, do you think _your_ bones will be crushed?"

Mario didn't say anything.

"Whatever," Luigi said. They walked over to the hotel, checked in, and each went to their own rooms.

As Mario entered his room, he noticed a note written on his pillow. He walked over to it and read it.

MaRiO  
YoUr GoNnA dIe In ToMoRrOwS mAtCh AgAiNsT RaWk HaWk  
-From X

Mario couldn't help but cringe at the horrible grammar. Another thing he didn't like was the threat the letter contained. "I don't want to fight!" Mario shouted to himself.

He sat on his bed for several hours, pondering what to do. He exited the hotel, and walked across the plaza. "I want to go home," he muttered to himself. The blimp wasn't there now. He wouldn't be able to leave until the blimp returned again at noon. He looked down at his watch. Nope...another ten hours until noon. He could jump from Glitzville, but he was certain he would die doing that, too. He looked down over the edge of Glitzville. If he _did_ jump, the giant propeller under the floating city would ginsu him up.

Suddenly, Mario heard a ringing from the phone booth nearby. He was the only one there, so hesitantly, he walked to the ringing phone. However, by the time he got there, the phone had stopped ringing. He noticed a note attached to the phone. He picked it up. It was addressed to Mario!

MaRiO  
If YoU fIgHt ThEn YoUr DeAd MeAt StUpId!  
-From X

Where the heck were these notes coming from? And who the heck was X?

Mario felt a hand on his shoulder. He screamed and turned around, cowering.

"Calm down!" It was just Peach.

"PEACH!" Mario shouted.

"Quiet!" she whispered. Mario looked up at the hotel. Several people had turned their lights on and were looking out the window to see the source of the shouting. "Mario," Peach whispered, "What are you doing out here?"

"I don't want to fight."

"Oh, come on. It won't be hard."

"I don't want to!"

"Do it for me."

Mario looked deep into Peach's eyes. "I LOVE YOU!"

"Oh, thank you," Peach said, blushingly.

"Okay, I'll fight. I'LL FIGHT!"

"Mario, shut up!" Peach said. "You'll wake up everybody!"


	5. Dreadful Breakfast

The next morning, Peach knocked on Mario's hotel room door. After a few minutes, Mario opened the door. "Oh, hello, Princess."

"Hi, Mario," Peach said. "How are you?"

"I'm sleepy. I hardly got any sleep overnight."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. There isn't too much time before your match. I think we should get some breakfast into you."

Mario then realized that he was very hungry. Over the last 24 hours, he had eaten nothing but a hot dog. "I'm a-starving!"

"Okay, good," Peach said, "Luigi's already heading down to the restaurant next door. Get your clothes on and meet us down there."

"Um, Princess," Mario stopped her from turning around, "I changed my mind. I had a nightmare."

"Oh?" Peach said. "What was the nightmare about?"

Mario looked down at his feet. "I dreamt that Rawk Hawk killed me and then he got crazy and kicked you and used Luigi as a toothpick and went and swung Yoshi around by his tongue and used him to knock down your castle and all of the other buildings in the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Oh, Mario, that's awful. I don't blame you for not wanting to fight Rawk Hawk. But come on. It's time for breakfast, then we're going to your big match." Peach kissed Mario right on the forehead, then walked down the hallway out of Mario's sight.

Mario sighed. He walked over to his suitcase, and put on his gloves, shirt, overalls, hat, and boots. Then he went into the room's bathroom, fixed up his 'stache, walked down the hallway, then down the stairs, and exited the hotel room. He walked right to the restaurant, and saw Peach and Luigi sitting together at a small table. Luigi waved him over, and Peach smiled.

Mario pulled out the chair and sat down.

"We've been waiting for you," Luigi said, "It's a buffet, Mario. Let's go over and get some breakfast."

The three of them got up, and walked over to the table. While Peach and Luigi looked happy, Mario sulked to the table. Mario thought the bacon smelled really good, so he filled his plate with bacon, and topped them with some mushroom purée. After they all got their food, they returned to the table.

"So," Luigi said to Mario, "are you looking forward to the battle?"

"Um..." Mario said, at a loss of words.

"Peach told me last night you were going to fight. So, how about it? Are you going to try to not lose?"

"Mmmm..." Peach said, licking her fingers. "These cinnamon rolls are to die for!"

Mario whimpered.

"Hmmm?" Peach said. "Oh... right." She had accidentally said "die" and Mario was whimpering with his head in his hands.

"Hmmm..." Luigi said, "These eggs are really really yellow." He poked at the egg with his fork. "I wonder if there is _dye_ in them."

Mario cried out and covered his face with his cap.

"Luigi!" Peach shouted. "That was mean!" She slapped Luigi elegantly.

"I'M GONNA DIE!" Mario shouted through his cap, his head still down on the table. The other restaurant-goers glanced over at Mario.

"Sir," the restaurant's greeter said to Mario, waiting for him to lift his head up to look at her. He didn't, so she continued. "This note came for you." She set the letter on the table.

Mario looked up and read the letter.

MaRiO  
If YoUr GoNnA fIgHt, HeReS sOmE aDvIcE:  
tUg RaWk HaWkS tAiL fEaThErS  
From X

Peach looked puzzled. "That's some pretty weird advice. Who's X?"

Luigi read the letter. "Hmmm... I know it's not _me_."

Mario anxiously looked at his watch. He groaned loudly.

"What time is it?" Peach asked. She looked across at Mario's watch. "Oh my! Mario! It's almost nine! You're going to miss your match!"

Mario smiled.

"Come on, Mario!" Luigi said. "It's time to fight!"

Mario dragged his feet behind Peach and Luigi to the Glitz Pit.


	6. The Big Brawl

Since they were late, Mario had no time to prepare in the locker rooms. Jolene told him that he had to go right on stage. Peach and Luigi took seats behind him with the rest of the audience. "You go, Mario!" Peach shouted.

"WELL," Grubba yelled into the mike, "It looks like our competetor, MARIO, has finally ARRIVED."

Mario looked across the ring at Rawk Hawk. Mario looked into his eyes. His eyes said, "You're going to die, mustache man." Then, Mario looked into Rawk Hawk's muscles. They said, "We're gonna crush you." Mario swallowed his fear. Then it tried to come up again, but Mario swallowed it again. It left an awful taste in his mouth.

Mario looked back at Peach and Luigi. He mouthed the words, "I don't want to fight," but Peach and Luigi didn't seem to notice.

"Let's BRAAAAAAAAAAAAWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!" Grubba yelled.

Rawk Hawk flew up into the air.

"Don't dive!" Mario yelled.

Rawk Hawk looked puzzled, but then dove right through the air toward Mario. Mario managed to jump right out of the way.

"_You_ told me that you hate me." Rawk Hawk shouted. "Well, I hate _you_!"

Mario gasped. Nobody, except for Bowser of course, had _ever _said he hated Mario. Mario's heart collapsed. Then it grew fiery and Mario could feel in his mustache that he _certainly _was angry.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Mario ran shouting at Rawk Hawk, fists flailing.

"What, suddenly you think _you're _going to win?" Rawk Hawk shouted back. He flapped his wings and hovered several feet up in the air.

"Yes!" shouted Mario. He jumped up high and grabbed one of Rawk Hawk's tail feathers, and gave a nice, hard tug on the way down.

"YEEEEEEEEOWCH!" Rawk Hawk shouted. He landed. While Rawk Hawk twisted around to rub his sore rear end, Mario jumped and kicked Rawk Hawk right in the chest. Rawk Hawk fell over onto his back, shouting in pain. Mario could hear that the crowd was quietly gasping. Mario jumped over Rawk Hawk, and hip-dropped right on top. Mario got up and everyone in the audience, including Grubba and Jolene, watched Rawk Hawk.

Rawk Hawk didn't get up. He lay on the floor, his eyes closed and his teeth clenched tight. "I lose."

Mario won! Grubba excitedly announced this to the audience. "We have a NEW CHAMPION! That winner's name is MARIO! MARIO is our NEW CHAMPION!"

"Yippee!" Mario said.

"Here," Rawk Hawk said, struggling to take off his champion's belt. "Take this. You've earned it, man."

Mario took the champion's belt and held it high above his head. Luigi and Peach ran down into the arena. Luigi gave Mario a big hug, and Peach gave him a big kiss. Mario liked the kiss much more. It was the highlight of the trip.

* * *

There's one final chapter on the way. 


	7. Meeting With Grubba

Mario, accompanied by Peach and Luigi, stood in Grubba's office with Jolene and Rawk Hawk. "Well, you're the new champion, Mario."

Rawk Hawk shook Mario's hand. Mario shrugged. "I'm surprised!"

"Honestly, we didn't think you were going to win," said Luigi.

"Well, I was _hoping_ you'd win!" Peach said. "And it's a nice thing that you did!"

Grubba began to get to business. "You're the new champion, Mario. You've got to stay here, and defend your title!"

"Wait," Peach said, "Mario has to stay here?"

"Well, no," Grubba said, "he doesn't _have _to defend his title..."

Jolene handed Mario her clipboard. "Sign your name here on this dotted line."

Mario stared hard at the dotted line. He didn't want to leave his friends back home. Should he write his name? On the dotted line, Mario wrote "No", and handed the clipboard back to Jolene.

"Thanks," she said. Then she looked down at the form and frowned. "This is not an acceptable signature."

"Well," Mario said, "this isn't an acceptable life for me."

"Oh, Mario!" Peach hugged Mario.

"So that means that Rawk Hawk retains his previous title of Champion," Jolene said. Rawk Hawk smiled.

"I have a question," Luigi asked. "Who did all those letters come from?"

"You mean _whom_," Mario corrected him.

Luigi sighed. "_Whom_ did all those letters come from?"

Grubba smiled. "Well, I sent a letter to your hotel room yesterday. I don't know about all the other letters, though."

Rawk Hawk laughed. "I attached that letter to the phone booth yesterday when I saw you worrying like a baby outside last night. Then I called the pay phone so you would run and see it."

"What about the other letter telling me how to beat Rawk Hawk?" Mario asked.

"_What_ letter?" Rawk Hawk asked, startled.

Jolene started backing out of the office.

"Jolene!" Rawk Hawk shouted, "Where do you think you're _going_?"

"Out for...a breath of fresh air."

"Get _back here_!" Rawk Hawk shouted. "The tail feather thing was supposed to be _secret_! Why would you use that against me?"

"I thought we could use better ratings," Jolene explained. I thought we were due for a new champion to get a new fan base."

"What?" Grubba asked. "We don't _need_ new fans. This stadium is packed full every day! We don't have _room_ for new fans!"

"Oh," Jolene said. "An honest mistake."

"Well, congrats, Mario," Grubba said. "Your blimp should be arriving soon. You don't want to miss it, do you?"

"No," Peach said, "We should probably be heading back. I have a kingdom to run!"

"Oh, yes," Mario said. "I had a nice timewell, admittedly, the entire experience here was horrifying, but I guess I learned _something_ from it."

"Well, thanks for comin'," Grubba said. "Y'all come back here some time soon!"

"Okeydokey!" Mario said, smiling. But he knew that he would never come back to the Glitz Pit ever again.


End file.
